Image Credit : PGO Automobiles

The European Commission, ooh, way back, decided that Biofuels were just what was needed to start the de-carbonisation of transportation. The original plan looked rather yellow and green – farm after farm of oilseed rape – what the Americans term “canola”. Suddenly schoolchildrens’ crayon renditions of the landscape were not as primary in colour as the actual fields.

The first target was for 5.75% of all transport fuel to be biologically sourced – from plants. What the European legislation didn’t figure was that some very dodgy dealers would take the long haul to Indonesia and Malaysia and start selling up the idea of marketing palm oil to Europe to make BioDiesel to meet the Biofuels Directive obligation. So goodbye rainforest and goodbye orangutans out in Asia. And goodbye good carbon intentions – replacing the rainforest with oil palms created net carbon emissions – so Biofuels failed to take the carbon out of motoring.

Some very bad ideas have followed on after. Several companies are still struggling with the idea that algae could turn out, could, I emphasise, be the thing that starts a genuine BioOil market. We’ll see – but most of the designs need an input of carbon dioxide – which would probably come from a fossil fuel-burning power station – so not very renewable, then.

BioEthanol, mostly made from corn (maize) in the United States of Ameria, requires a huge amount of land, and BioEthanol made in Brazil from sugarcane requires slave labour of the landless serfs. Really not a sustainable solution.

American President Barack Obama has perhaps lost his mind if he allows this particular bill to be passed into law – Coal-to-Liquids, a process as old as the trade-constrained German Third Reich, is a completely insane idea – even if it is CCD “clean coal derived”. There’s nothing “clean” about coal in this case – the carbon dioxide that would have been released into the atmosphere is captured, then fed into a chemical process to produce fuel, which is then burned, and the carbon dioxide that is emitted from burning the fuel goes up into the atmosphere. So, nothing permanently captured, then. And the process is highly energy-inefficient – more coal fuel is needed to capture and process the carbon dioxide. They’d do better to have coal-burners or gasifiers built onto wagons trailing behind the cars and run the cars on steam or coal gas. Seriously.

So, what to do about cars ?

The ultimate answer is probably electricity-powered “line cars” – private vehicle cars like mini-trolley buses, trams, streetcars, or dodgems, somewhat smaller than railcars or light rail, running down laid out routes following live electricity rails – unless battery technology can be vastly improved. There is a future for BEV – battery electric vehicles – but if future batteries still use “rare earth element” scarce metals, there won’t be a whole world of BEVs. The biggest problem currently is the speed at which electric vehicles can be rolled out into the “fleet” – the annual turnover in cars, although large, is not large in comparison with the total number of cars on the roads, which will mean slow conversion. Plus there’s the economic crunch to think of – as people become relatively less well-off, they buy less cars.

There are many, many ways in which renewable electricity can be generated, so using green and truly clean electricity for transport must be the final goal, after all the ground-sourced oil and gas and coal is gone, and after all the renewable stocks of oil and gas are promised to other purposes.

But what of today ? Is there something so close at hand that we’ve missed its potential ?

There is “wonderfuel” development going on in Renewable Gas – which is a wide range of chemicals, produced from a wide range of chemical processes, from a wide range of feedstocks – many of them plant and animal waste. Many people have heard of BioGas or BioMethane, but Renewable Gas can be much more than simply methane derived from Anaerobic Digestion. The potential for Renewable Gas to displace Natural Gas in the National Grid in the UK (and the USA) is significant. Plus, it could be used for electricity generation at quick-to-build large power stations – and the growth in Renewable Gas could mean that before any new nuclear or coal power stations get to be commissioned, they would be redundant.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), some of it from Bio origins, is used in vehicles throughout the world, but you don’t necessarily need to buy a new car to run on CNG – conversion of a diesel engine vehicle will do. And you could fill it from home if you are connected to the gas grid. With plans to start feeding more Bio sources of gas into the grid, this could mean that you can drive on Renewable Gas, and your home gas tap becomes your filling station – with a bit of special kit provided.

Combustion engines are bad for our health, but, while we still have combustion engines, BioMethane and Bio Synthetic Natural Gas (BioSNG) and mixes of other Bio gases can provide a truly green “bridging technology” to de-carbonise transportation.

A note of caution : some BioSNG processes are not entirely carbon neutral – for example, the newly-announced Audi e-gas, using spare electricity from wind generation to produce hydrogen from water by electrolysis, Renewable Hydrogen, which is then methanated. Like the algae biodiesel projects, this needs a source of carbon dioxide – which would presumably come from a power station burning fossil fuels.

However, there are sufficient ways to produce truly Renewable Gas, and Renewable Gas cars could be an almost immediate win.

I’m in the Climate Union. Are you ?

Finally, I have to admit that I have an personal stake in the outcomes of Climate Change and Energy policy.

I have to confess to a utilitarian, yet enlightened, self-interest.

And so say all of us.

In the future, I want there to be jobs. New jobs, for young and old, for me. Productive, worthwhile employment, green jobs that don’t permanently wreck the atmosphere for future generations.

When I get sick, unabled or old, I want there to be social services. Not run on a shoestring budget owing to Carbon Taxes or Carbon Trading, but Low Carbon hospitals with well-motivated, sufficient staff; and decent, affordable sheltered housing and residential homes for the vulnerable.

I want cheap, Zero Carbon Energy; as access to Energy is an essential public good, even a human right, for those who live towards the Poles. I don’t want to be made poor by a badly managed transition out of Fossil Fuels, or expensive Carbon Capture projects that the State pays for, because Electricity generation companies want to burn dirty Coal. I don’t want to have to pay double for my power, just because new Nuclear Power stations cost so much to build.

I want there to be very well-insulated affordable homes for everyone.

I want the United Kingdom to grow most of its own food.

I want my country to use BioMethane for fuel and domestic Energy.

I want to be able to ride my bicycle everywhere, safely.

I want to live in peace and not be forced to live through a conflict over global Energy resources.

I want wind farms, tidal farms, electric buses and taxis.

I want Climate Justice and I want Transition and I want it to start with me.

I’m part of the Climate Union. Will you join us ?

http://climatefront.ning.com/

http://www.campaigncc.org/greenjobs

Here are some of the organisations taking part in the Climate Union :-

http://www.campaigncc.org/

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/resources/green_workplaces/climate-solidarity-project/index.cfm
http://www.unison.org.uk/green/
http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4286
http://www.fbu.org.uk/newspress/circulars/cir2010/hoc0029mw.php
http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/adaptation.pdf

http://act.ukycc.org

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/03/the-electoral-impact-of-climate-change/

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/EnergyBill2010?source=homepage

http://www.coinet.org.uk/

http://www.envision.org.uk/

http://www.hacan.org.uk/

http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/

http://www.reelnews.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.planestupid.com/

http://21st-centurynetwork.com/blog/?p=2161
http://www.globalnet21.org/index.php?pageId=62

http://www.operationnoah.org
http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk

http://envirowiki.org.uk/wiki/Spartans
http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Oxford-United-Kingdom/Oxford-Spartans/378937418081?v=info

http://www.changeiscoming.org.uk

http://www.leedstidal.org

http://www.climaterush.co.uk

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/energy-uk-has-enough-gas-for-another-65-days-1860135.html

“Energy: UK has enough gas for another 65 days : By Sarah Arnott : Thursday, 7 January 2010 : …The National Grid insisted that the unprecedented consumption levels will not leave Britain short. “We are absolutely not going to run out of gas,” said a spokesman. “The UK is well supplied.” The shadow Energy Secretary Greg Clark stoked energy security fears on Tuesday by claiming that Britain had only eight days of gas left in storage. But the National Grid dismissed the calculation as a “meaningless number” because it ignored both the amount of gas imported and that nearly half of UK demand is met by North Sea production.”

Today’s news : factories are getting rationed :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/07/gas-rationing-national-grid-factories

“1970s-style rationing as National Grid cuts off gas to factories : Exclusive: Severe weather and creaking power infrastructure lead to first tangible sign that fears over energy shortages are translating into supply disruption : Terry Macalister, energy editor, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 7 January 2010…”

This sorry tale happens every time a real Winter comes around… Who to believe ? What to do ?

Well, if the National Grid was obliged by regulation to produce BioMethane from a tie-up with the Waste Water Treatment companies and the Farms, then we could be producing our own gas from yesterday’s curries, pig slurry, straw, hospital waste, and old hens…

Image Credit : NowPublic

I still don’t know what all the fuss is about Nuclear Power, when the BioMethane from all the toilets, farm slurry, hospital and food waste in the country could trounce the amount of power available from atoms by 2020.

Without all that nasty radioactive leftover, massive expensive building projects, social tension, election nightmare and increasing security issues.

With a bit of time on my paws over the “Christmas Vortex” (everything gets sucked up by Christmas and nothing ever gets spat out again until January), I started to dig into Professor David J. C. MacKay’s excellent tome, available free online, Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air :-

http://www.withouthotair.com/

I was amazed that he only only seemed to mention BioMethane, or BioGas when discussing a source of Energy to power an Algae BioDiesel plant, in a note at the back of one of his “Technical” chapters, D, named “Solar II”.

“Putt (2007)…Putt describes the energy balance of a proposed design for a 100-acre algae farm, powered by methane from an animal litter digester. The farm described would in fact produce less power than the methane power input…”

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/cD/page_288.shtml

Back in the good Professor’s chapter on Nuclear, he does a fair analysis of what would constitute a “sustainable” output of Atomic Fission Power, globally. Of course, not written into the text, is the obvious fact of life that the Global North (Industrialised West) would get the lion’s share of any Nuclear Energy, because of “factors”, but even so, the calculations of electricity produced, per person, per day, taking in practical development and deployment issues is not that huge.

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c24/page_161.shtml

In his chapter 27 “Five energy plans for Britain”, his plan E “Producing lots of electricity” assumes that somehow the Economics of Nuclear Power can be made to work in the UK, despite the financial troubles faced by many of the European and American companies that would be relied on to construct and work the new installations. He puts output of Nuclear Power at 44 kWh (kiloWatt hours) per day per person, noting “This plan has a ten-fold increase in our nuclear power over 2007 levels.” Given the current state of the Economy, and the lack of readiness to spend the readies on massive new Nuclear plant, this therefore is highly unlikely. The current plans for 10 new reactors only amounts to a “replacement” programme of the plant that needs to be de-commissioned by 2023 :-

http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/withouthotair/c27/page_203.shtml

Other plans that MacKay outlines are in the region of an electricity contribution from Nuclear as 10 or 16 kWh per day per person. This is marginally more realistic, but still rather on the optimistic side, even if you assume massive reorientation of the fiscal regime to grant Nuclear Power a kind of Low Carbon status, and ply the industry with offers of free insurance and guaranteed sales contracts.

The plain fact is that poo can do better.

According to a report from National Grid : “Renewable Gas”, “upgraded” BioMethane, suitable for delivery through the current Natural Gas pipeline network could offer 18,432 million cubic metres by 2020 :-

http://www.nationalgrid.com/NR/rdonlyres/9122AEBA-5E50-43CA-81E5-8FD98C2CA4EC/32182/renewablegasWPfinal1.pdf

Studies of current yield of BioMethane show that 4,650,000 cubic metres yields 45,983,333 kWh, after deducting the Energy used to anaerobically digest and clean the BioGas.

To convert it all into “MacKay” units of measurement, this means that by 2020, if the population of the UK is counted as being approximately 60 million, each year, 3037 kWh per person could be produced, or roughly 8 kWh per person per day.

Hmm. Quite a contender when compared to the as yet unborn, potentially sluggish, constipated Nuclear “renaissance”. By contrast, Poo Power has natural “intestinal transit”, as production is a constant fact of life.

Roughly 20% of current UK Natural Gas consumption from slurry ? And all it would take would be renovation of sewage and water treatment plants :-

http://chartsbin.com/view/63n
(2009 current gas consumption UK is 93,904,213,944 cubic metres)

Let’s hear applause for Number Two’s…

Energy is a faecal issue…

I’m cheering for that day when the animal waste product hits the spinning gas turbines…

Come on, pull out all the old scatalogical jokes, won’t you ?

Even though they know about Global Warming and the risks of dangerous Climate Change, and they know about the connection between burning Fossil Fuels and Global Warming, they just don’t care about how much Energy they’re using.

And I know this is heresy to say so, but I said that people shouldn’t have to think about Energy, that they shouldn’t be made to feel guilty about using Energy. I said that the Energy that is provided to them should be Carbon-free and responsibility-free. People shouldn’t be forced to act against their nature. Energy is effectively free at the moment. It’s way cheap, even cheaper than food for a lot of people. So people use it. People love using Energy.

I said if Energy were more like Money, then people would pay attention to how much they were spending. In the group it was mentioned that Energy prices would have to rise quite high to change peoples’ behaviour with Energy. And I said, it would be unwise to raise the cost of Energy because that would create a much larger underclass, joining the other people who find it hard to pay for food and fuel. I said that high Carbon pricing would destroy Society.

Then someone mentioned inverse tariffs, where Energy consumers would get a certain amount uncharged each year, but if they used more, they would have to pay more. And the more they used, the more they would be expected to pay for each unit. And I said this might be quite difficult to get agreement for, but that my conclusion was broadly similar. I said that the logical end point with Energy waste is Energy rationing, putting a value on keeping your Energy waste down.

(Someone asked if I meant Personal Carbon Trading. I said, no, not quite. New Renewable Energy infrastructure will require time and investment, so for the time being, we cannot have all the Carbon-free Energy we would like : Energy rationing is a logical approach.)

Energy should be a right, I said, everyone should have access to Energy. In fact, it should be free, until people started to use it beyond their fair share. I said it is the responsiblity of the Energy suppliers to de-Carbonise, and the responsibility of the Government to prevent Energy waste. Not enough of the citizens care sufficiently to make any difference on the problem of Energy waste or Carbon emissions. It has to be corrected at source.

I said we should stop taking Fossil Fuels out of the ground and burning them. Someone mentioned Mark Lynas’ book Six Degrees and how the human race is burning millions of years of ancient sunlight energy each 12 months in the form of Coal, Oil and Natural Gas.

I said that the end point of all our policies is that the Fossil Fuel companies will be going out of business, and that it’s time that they accepted it, and de-Carbonised their primary Energy sources.

I’ve seen the studies, I said, and we could easily have 40% of the country’s electricity from Wind Power, and 70% – 90% of the country’s gas from BioMethane.

(I said that Wind Turbines pay back in all three areas, Money, Carbon and Energy, within 5 to 10 years : it’s always going to be profitable to go green. Although it will cost up-front for the investment.)

The Energy Revolution needs to be an Evolution. Ordinary people should not be blamed for using Energy. Energy should be a public good, a human right, a development need supplied.

I said there needs to be the vision that every flick of a light switch turns on a wind turbine somewhere.

Many other things were said. But at least I stood up for the little people. The people who can’t be too hard on themselves, who don’t understand Energy and shouldn’t be held accountable for Carbon Emissions.

Give us Clean Energy and don’t make us pay for it.

Sustainable Energy comes from doing what comes naturally. Wind, waves, sunlight. And pooping.

With some fairly minor adaptations to all sewage treatment plants, and a little AD – Anaerobic Digestion – we could hook up our off-gassing into the National Grid, and reduce our Fossil Gas use, big-time.

Watch this technology for meteoric rise. Cheap, cheerful, but slightly pongy. But they do BioGas in China and India all the time, and 2.4 billion Chinidians can’t be wrong.

Something of an irony, the nation’s first commercial Liquid BioMethane bus test will be done at East Midlands airport :-

http://www.responsesource.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=51659

“Gasrec begins trial of Liquid Biomethane fuel for ground vehicle at East Midlands Airport : Monday, 09 November 2009 – the UK’s first commercial producer of Liquid Biomethane (LBM) – is entering into a six -month trial with East Midlands Airport (EMA), to run a Cobus 3000 passenger bus (which is used to transfer passengers from aircraft to the terminal building), powered by Gasrec’s LBM. LBM is a fuel produced from decomposing organic waste which is suitable for powering a wide range of commercial vehicles. When LBM is used as a vehicle fuel to displace diesel, it can achieve up to 60 per cent reduction in CO2…”

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6876945.ece

“From The Times : October 16, 2009 : British Gas owner could use cow manure to heat homes : Robin Pagnamenta : British homes could soon be heated by gas produced from cow manure and sewage slurry, under plans being considered by Centrica, the owner of British Gas. The company, which has 16 million UK customers, is drawing up plans to build a plant that would use organic waste to produce biomethane that could be injected directly into the national gas network. National Grid has estimated that such biogas could supply 18 per cent of total UK demand for gas — or 18 billion cubic meters of the approximately 100 billion total consumed in Britain every year. A spokesman for Centrica said that biogas was an “interesting technology” and that it was studying the option of constructing a plant in Britain that would process an array of materials, from abattoir and farm waste to municipal food waste. John Baldwin, a biomethane consultant with CNG Services, which is advising Centrica, said that the industry remained “embryonic” in the UK but was well advanced in continental countries. However, he said that the economics of British biomethane production would be transformed in April 2011, when the Government begins a subsidy scheme called the Renewable Heat Incentive…”

http://www.icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals/2009/06/poo-power-rises.html
“Poo Power rises”

http://www.upd8.org.uk/activity/96/Poo-power-or-nuclear-power.html
“poo power or nuclear power ?”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/28/lunen-germany-biogas-power
“Poo power to the people”

http://www.yorkshirewater.com/education-and-learning/school-zone/poo-power.aspx
“Using poo as a source of energy”

1. Contraction & Convergence Video Conferencing

Yet another international meeting on Energy Efficiency, Climate Change, Renewable Energy. Yet another brace of airline tickets for big speakers, engineers, policy-makers and scientists (and reporters) to fly in and confer.

In order to demonstrate the Contraction & Convergence framework in action, the delegates at all these meetings and conferences should reduce their carbon emissions to be in line with the lowest emitter of them all. Everyone will contract their carbon emissions, and everyone will get in line. Equal rights to pollute. The Principle of Equity.

There is enough cable and wire laid under all the world’s oceans and through the world’s rivers and soils to hold every single meeting by videoconferencing. And so it should be done.

No more flying for people of green persuasions. Follow Aubrey Meyer of the Global Commons Institute and the UNFCCC papers for development of Contraction & Convergence.

2. Carbon Rationing

Mayer Hillman rides his bicycle through London, in all weathers and traffic conditions, and he’s well past 65. He proposes in his very good book “How We Can Save the Planet” that we should espouse Carbon Rationing.

He quite rightly says that no one likes taxation, especially not environmental taxation which does not seem to have a logical reason for it at first glance.

He demonstrates his Carbon Ration Card : a credit card sized object which is scanned every time you buy petrol or pay your utility bills. If you over expend your annual allocation, you will have to buy someone else’s unused carbon credits.

It could work very easily, because the distribution and use of every kind of fossil fuel is highly regulated. Every time you or I use a petrochemical derived fuel it comes from a recorded supply.

I hope the idea is developed to cover any petrochemical product, and telecommunications and water as well, because a clean water supply relies on electrical pumping, and a telephone relies on electricity through the wires.

A scheme like this would have to be introduced at first on a voluntary basis, I expect, in order to gain recognition, but pretty soon it would need to be imposed if not enough people were seen to be going green of their own accord.

3. Home Power Loan

Everyone wants Renewable Energy. We don’t want Nuclear Power (the Precautionary Principle dictates against it), and we want Distributed Generation instead of big regional power plants. To ensure security of power supply we want Solar Power, Wind Power, Wood-burning Stoves. Cut down on carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel pollution. Make power locally instead of transporting it long inefficient distances. Don’t rely on imports. It all makes perfect sense. The trouble is, every ordinary person, in their ordinary home, cannot afford the initial costs of installing a Solar Hot Water system, or a Geothermal sub-floor space heating installation, or a Combined Heat and Power unit.

If the home were to be re-built from scratch, then a proportion of the cost could be used to install passive and active solar systems, and maybe some natural air conditioning and wind generation equipment, very easily. New buildings should always include renewable energy systems. But adding clean green energy to an established building is expensive and disruptive.

But each ordinary person, in their ordinary home, pays energy bills every month. What if that cash was diverted to Renewable Energy technology or microgeneration ?

The practical idea is to oblige energy companies to make available Home Power Loans to ordinary people. The Energy Companies hire the Renewable Energy installers, through a vetted accreditation system. The ordinary householder gets one or more Renewable Energy systems in their home, which could turn out to be a capital asset. The loan repayments will be guaranteed never to rise above the amount the ordinary householder would have paid in domestic energy bills.

The fossil-fuel generated power is displaced by renewable power. The Energy Company gets credit for displacing fossil-fuel power. After the Home Power Loan is paid off, the householder gets free energy for the life of the installation. And they can even earn money if they over-produce and sell the excess to the National Grid. Convert your costs to benefits.

4. Home Power College

One of the biggest problem with Renewable Energy is the number of cowboy installers on the prowl, seeking to part idealistic people from their hard-earned cash. Ordinary plumbers are not up to the task generally speaking. Neither are amateurs.

The practical idea would require a certain amount of investment, either from Government, or Local Councils, or venture capitalists, or big donors : set up a recognised Home Power College with public or private money, to establish standards and teach on skills and knowledge.

Revenue from supply lines of Renewable Energy equipment could be a perk to the investors, and pay for the student courses. A Home Power College would encourage the distribution of green engineering and technology, and help set up an infrastructure to deliver the technologies to people, more cheaply than today because of the bulk purchases. People should be paid to attend this college, because they are going to go on and displace fossil-fuel power, and so are of great benefit to society.

Renewable Energy installers who are accredited should be given VAT tax breaks for their future work, say a fixed sum per kWh of renewables, since they are displacing environmentally damaging domestic systems.

Home Power College graduates would be monitored and mentored in their careers.

Paying people to go through Home Power College would enable ordinary plumbers and engineers to attend, thereby bringing in people with basic understanding, which would help.

5. Zero Fuel Duty on Biofuels for Cooperatives

The Government’s own figures suggest that up to 20% of Britain’s fossil road fuel could be replaced by biodiesel made from oil-bearing plants grown in the country. Add to that other biofuels such as bioethanol, and we could be looking at a sizeable proportion of UK road fuel being sourced from plants.

Even if only the net atmospheric carbon dioxide is only 85% less than burning fossil fuels, surely it’s worth doing. With the collapse of certain farms and sectors of agriculture, there is a lot of land becoming free to grow biofuels.

We don’t want to see a centrally managed biofuel administration. One of the joys of biofuels is that they can be manufactured and consumed locally to where they are sourced. A big issue with biofuels at the moment is that they are still subject to fuel duty, and therefore strict regulation.

The practical idea is to abolish fuel duty for biofuel cooperatives, operating in local areas : which can be managed ethically, and the dividends planted back into the local economy. Biofuels will displace fossil fuels, which cause environmental damage, and so should incur negative environmental taxation. By dropping regulation and fuel duty on biofuels, the rapid expansion of local fuel resources will be encouraged. The price differential and the lack of regulation will benefit the cleaner fuels. Demand for fossil petrol and fossil diesel will drop off, and the vibration of rolling oil tankers will stop shaking the tiles off village churches.

The amount of miles that a vehicle has to cover in order to deliver road fuel will be sharply curtailed, and this drop in “fuel miles” will greatly improve transport fuel prices for the benefit of those driving green. Cooperatives will not put the profit before the product, and so the stranglehold that oil companies have over business transportation can be broken.

6. Biomass Plantations & Distribution Infrastructure

The United Kingdom has lost most of its original forest, and while this is a great deficit, it offers several excellent opportunities.

Several companies and nature organisations are planting trees extensively for one reason or another : some are guilt plantings for people who want to offset their “air miles” travel by dirty aeroplane. This is one area of planting that should be encouraged to help soak up excess carbon dioxide.

But trees and other plants are also useful as green fuel. Biomass energy of several kinds is predicted to be essential to our future green energy mix. We need to tip the price differential in favour of biomass fuels in order to make it happen quickly. The alternative would be to tax the oil companies for making a profit out of dirty fuels, but I can’t see that being too popular. In order to benefit biomass plantations, we will have to give tax breaks to the people doing the planting and gathering.

Modern heating technology in different countries can show us the way : household “plant coal” boilers from Scandinavia, burning compressed wood pellets from an automated hopper and chute system that only needs to be refilled once every 10 or 12 weeks : clean-flue log-burning stoves from Canada (well probably from Scandinavia too originally), where the flue gases are recycled to increase the efficiency of the fuel and to minimise the greenhouse gases emitted.

Several British medium- to large-scale biomass projects have failed, but that’s no reason to give up trying. The best way so far to create biomass energy is small-scale, at home, but what is needed to make this really roll out is a wood products distribution system.

Just like there used to be coal merchants in every town, so now there needs to be a wood pellet and “plant coal” merchant within everyone’s 10 mile radius. And to make that happen in the first instance we will need to give them business tax breaks. The level of infrastructure and distribution we need to develop far outstrips normal market force speed.

Local Councils might need to be encouraged to allow planters to put trees and other bioenergy crops on publicly owned land, in a kind of “Adopt-a-Plot” scheme like the traditional allotments for gardening.

Everyone will need to dust out their chimneys (if they have them) and install a wood shed (with nothing creepy inside) in the back yard. And then get a wood-burning stove or boiler installed somehow into their homes. But we have to do it. People all over Germany can do it : using basements for the machinery and the car drive for the log pile. And so can we.

With the expected abandonment of the EC Common Agricultural Policy, and with the rise of the supermarkets, quite a few traditional farms will be going out of business. Plenty of land to convert use to bioplanting.

7. Tax Plastics & Petrochemicals

It is an astonishing and yet enduring feature of our economy that companies that make plastics and petrochemicals are given complete free rein to make a profit from polluting our environment.

The plastic wrapper on an everyday snack is sold to the food manufacturer as a hygienic option by the plastics company. The wrapper goes on to become waste that some Local Council is obliged to clear up and landfill or otherwise process. Most plastic food wrappers are still not recyclable or biodegradable. Which means that there is a clear line of contamination from start to finish, which is not being attributed to the original source. Who gave these plastics and petrochemical companies a licence to poison ?

No one will accept a tax on a company for its profits, even if those profits are made through destroying the natural environment. The practical idea is to tax the products that are sold. Each plastic item, per gram, should be subject to an environmental tax component in its price, and this money should be used by the Government to pay for alternative products to be developed, and to give to Local Councils to offset the problem of untreatable waste. Council Tax payers are currently paying for the clean-up of plastic packaging waste that they did not create, and they should not be held accountable or financially responsible for it. The Principle should always be that the Polluter Pays. Currently the waste problem is passed onto the final consumer : the garbage collector. This isn’t right.

We can’t recycle a lot of the plastics currently manufactured and sold, neither domestic chemicals such as cosmetics and cleaning products. Warning notices don’t yet come on the packs : “The use of this product will seriously harm you and your planet.” Petrochemical vehicle emissions cause asthma. Burning fossil fuels in industry and transport causes climate change.

An environmental tax on products will have the benefit of reducing demand for petrochemical products and petrochemical plastics, since products made without using fossil fuels will not attract the tax. Biopolymers and biodegradable products will thus gain a price advantage, and so be more widely manufactured and used. It will only take a small price correction to encourage many more chemicals companies to go vegetable.

Petrochemical products should be subject to a “renewables forfeit” because there is always a cleaner, greener way to make materials and chemicals (and cosmetics and detergents) : ask Tate and Lyle and Dupont. Even Tesco is now producing biodegradable shopping bags (they had to because the Co-op did). Petrochemicals should be costed at the “Full Environmental Price” so that biochemicals are seen at their true competitive cost.

Much as Local and National Government try to tell us : it is not true : the consumers of plastic packaging are not the ones creating the waste. It is the companies that continue to use virtually free petroleum and crude oil to make their products who are responsible for the waste and pollution. Tar MacAdam roads. Plastic Coca-Cola bottles. Supermarket shopping bags. There should be a clear division or allocation of responsibility between the end consumer and the producer. It’s up to the consumer to choose green. It’s up to the producer to provide a green choice. Honda should be applauded for their work to improve the energy efficiency of their motors, and providing hybrid cars and organising car clubs. Other car companies should have their dirty products taxed at point of sale.

Maybe large petrochemical and oil companies should be told that for every million Pounds Sterling profit they make a year (in the United Kingdom), that they will have to fund 100,000 Pounds Sterling worth of renewable product development. A “Green Materials Obligation” if you will.

8. Community Local Green Projects Considered Charity

For those schools, churches, temples, village halls, town halls and colleges contemplating a green energy project, why not give them Charity status so that they can validly apply for Lottery grants and other grants/prize money (or even tax rebates) ?

There is nothing more charitable than a community-based Renewable Energy project, and people are highly encouraged and inspired by being involved in such a scheme.

There is already money for Community Green Energy projects funded from Central Government, but there needs to be more.

If a green energy project is considered a charity for the duration of the installation, then private donations will increase, and campaigning and advocacy for the project will become easier. Maybe the money could be managed by the local Local Agenda 21 group ?

All too often, a green energy development is seen as an added burden and an added expense. But if plugging in solar panels on the village hall is a charitable activity, I’m sure more people would muck in. Until green energy is normal and widespread, development needs all the help it can get.

9. Green Citizenship Classes

Environmental issues should be an essential element of every person’s education, and so everyone could be encouraged to attend a “Green Club” or become part of an “EcoTeam”.

There are global community aspects to green energy, and citizenship responsibilities as a result : especially when considering the deep links between energy and world development, fossil fuel use and climate change.

If the adults of tomorrow are going to be aware that they have no choice but to go green, then the children and young people of today need to go to “Carbon Gym” and monitor their ecological footprints.

Far from being traditionally isolationist, the Great British islanders must start thinking beyond their shores : do we know about the achievements and popularity of Green Politics in other countries ? Do we know which of Denmark and Germany produces the highest quantity of wind power ? Do we know people from India or China who are on the world stage negotiating the use of clean green technologies ? Do we know that the North-Eastern States in the United States of America will be carbon trading, just like the Europeans ? Do we know about the machinations of the United Nations on energy and development ?

People need to be made aware of international networks as well as international politics and negotiation surrounding energy issues. Education, education, education…

10. Big Renewables

There is no need for Research & Development : all the necessary technology is known and tested : football-sized solar capture stations for town electrical power and heating and lighting : variable-speed wind turbines for every public building and park : geothermal heating at swimming pools.

What would it be like if London Underground made a commitment to source all their power from a green energy company such as Good Energy ?

What would happen if the Government agreed new Building Regulations on up and coming developments which guaranteed eco-power to every new home ? How can a property developer be obliged to reduce their “brick miles” (the distance that materials have to travel before being built with) ? How can the use of environmentally damaging cement, gypsum plaster, plastic carpets and volatile oil paints be reduced, in a regulatory way ?

There is definitely a place for big renewables schemes, to set the pace and drive home the message.

11. Biogas

Under Directives, all of Europe’s landfill sites will need to have gas collection facilities, to capture all the methane given off by rotting decomposing living matter in the municipal waste. What will the gas be used for ? Burnt for power, that’s what : heating, lighting, power for processing materials in sorting and recycling waste facilities.

The secret is : methane makes up 80% of natural gas, the gas that comes out of oil wells that the United Kingdom has been promoting for heating and power for over 30 years. Methane gives off a high energy when burned, and it is good to burn it, since methane is a greenhouse gas 4 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The practical idea is to displace natural gas with a “methane mix” : methane and related gases produced by biological action. Methane can be produced in several ways : for example by vats of decaying plant or animal matter where there are the right microscopic organisms present, and no oxygen.

Grow the plants, cut them down, anaerobically digest them to produce methane and good quality compost. Grow more plants from the compost…the net carbon emissions to the atmosphere will be low.

Cost-wise, it’s relatively cheap : the infrastructure for delivering natural gas to consumers is already in place : pipelines, storage systems, safe equipment.

Carbon-wise, it’s excellent.